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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-47423994-1', 'fortunecity.ws'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> <center> <br> <div> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.broadcaststation.net/ads/show_ad.php?width=728&height=90"></script> </div> </center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="041506e1egerbq.jpg"> <div> <B>Turtle Territory</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=16.875% BGCOLOR="#009933" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Comparison"><U>Comparison</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Plant List"><U>Plant List</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Turtles"><U>My Turtles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Size Chart"><U>Size Chart</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Turtle Friends"><U>Turtle Friends</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Turtle Links"><U>Turtle Links</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#66CC33" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Home</div> <div> I currently have three adult 3-toed box turtles: Murph, Molly and Teddi; one hatchling 3-toed, Mira; one adult female ornate boxie, Jazmine; and one ornate hatchling, Max.  Read Murph's page to hear all about the beginnings of my "turtle life".  Anyway, I learned most of what I know about caring for these turtles on the internet, books and through friends.  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wild/nongamregs.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wild/"><U><B>Click here for Texas Parks & Wildlife code</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="0c396c80.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="200" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Housing -</U></B>  My adults live outside in my yard.  I live in a garden home, which means my lot is quite small so there isn't much room for a yard.  The yard is gated and is only made up of one side of my house and the back......imagine an L-shaped yard.   It is completely fenced in and escape proof.  The yard has different areas of grass, rocks, sidewalk, garden, plants, etc.  There is a wading pond in the back for them to soak, many plants, and several dishes of water scattered about.  I have a soaker hose running the length of my house and it's wound into my garden, and attached to that is above ground sprinklers, and misters hanging from the awning.   I use some wood mulch, dried leaves and grass clippings for my garden area.  I do not ever put down any type of bug killer or weed killer........however, I do have some little black ants running about but the turts don't seem to be bothered by them.  I live in the DFW metroplex area so it gets quite hot here at the end of summer.......therefore, I have plenty of shady spots for the turts to stay in.  See more pics below for my turtle habitat.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Feeding -</U></B>  What I usually feed them is worms, fruits, veges, little bit of cat food, etc.    <IMG SRC="0578f6b0.jpg" border=0 width="143" height="107" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="1" VSPACE="1">I put out food 4 times per week - twice they get veges/fruits, and twice they get bugs or worms of some sort.  Alot of times, they hunt for their own prey in the yard.  I've seen them catch crickets, grasshoppers, slugs, and plenty of earthworms.  I have a pile in the back that I'll go turn over and usually if they see me with the shovel they will follow and "hunt" for themselves.  All of them are picky and prefer different things so I put out a large mixture like maybe some lettuces, tomato, plum, berries, mealworms, cucumber.  Ornate box turtles prefer more live foods than the 3-toeds.  However, they also love the worms and would eat them first before the veges/fruits.  The only problem I seem to have is that the food always attracts ants.  It's very important to only keep the food out for a short while, not all day long.  This helps keep the ants down just a bit.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Behavior -</U></B>  All my turtles have very different temperaments.  Murph is a heavy, strong turtle and he thinks he owns and runs the yard.  He is the warden out there!  He's very spoiled and definately acts like it.  He tends to be the scavenger and explorer.......he's out cruising around every morning looking for bugs.  Molly is only aggressive when it's feeding time.  Any other time, she bails when she sees Murph.  He has "mated" with her so many times, I just know she's sick of him!!  She is definately not a shy one though.  She will stay out of her shell, whereas Murph will suck in when you pick him up.  I have to baby talk him out.  Molly is very friendly and just a total joy to have.  Teddi is just a very sweet and passive turtle.  She is very curious and looks at me with such interest.  Now, Jazmine (ornate) is the wildest turtle I've ever seen......she's aggressive as heck, she will chase us around the yard and nip at our toes.  She is always begging for food and just won't leave anyone alone.  She will snatch food out of the other turtle's mouths too.  It took her a while, but boy her personality is really something else.  I just love them to death, and highly recommend turtles as pets!  But, only for those who have the time, money, and dedication to care for them properly.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="059a47b0.jpg" border=0 width="164" height="123" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="1" VSPACE="1">Hatchling -</U></B>  Mira is my 3-toed hatchling who is basically a new born.  She pipped her egg and 5 days later she came completely out of her egg on August 1, 2001.   She absorbed her yolk sac in about 1 week or so.  For the first few months, she was very shy and hid alot.  I have her in a 20 gallon long fish tank that is filled with plain top soil, peat moss, reptibark and bed-a-beast.  Inside is a hide log, water dish, green-tree moss, slates and a thermometer.  Overhead is a combo light fixture with the reptisun bulb, and day time/night time heating bulbs.  I keep her reptisun light on for about 12 hours each day and only turn on the heat bulbs when necessary.  I try to keep the temp between 78-85.  She finally started eating after almost 4 weeks out.  She eats any kind of worm, reptomin sticks, veges and fruits.</div> <bR> <div> Below are a few pics of my "turtle habitat" - you can see all my photos at my <A HREF="http://community.webshots.com/user/phelpcd1" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://community.webshots.com/user/phelp"><U>Webshots Album</U></A>.</div> <div>                </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="0c5c8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <IMG SRC="0c7c8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">   <IMG SRC="0bdc8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     </div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c996c80.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="200" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">    <IMG SRC="0cbc8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">     <IMG SRC="0cdc8960.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="150" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div> This is our herd.  See the difference in the shells of the 3-toeds vs. the ornate!  From left to right we have, Teddi, Murph, Jazmine and Molly.  My babies.........</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <IMG SRC="05ec8490.jpg" border=0 width="200" height="73" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> <div>   <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> sw="none";sd="none";ref=""+escape(document.referrer); </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript1.2"> sw=screen.width;nav=navigator.appName; sc=(nav!="Netscape")?screen.colorDepth:screen.pixelDepth; </script> <script type="text/javascript" language="JavaScript"> function doit(str) {document.writeln(str);} qs="&sw="+sw+"&sc="+sc+"&ref="+ref; url='http://counter30.bravenet.com/index.php?'; url += 'id=348706&usernum=2493182698&cpv=1'; curl='http://counter30.bravenet.com/counter.php?id=348706&usernum=2493182698'; doit('<a href="'+url+'" target="_top"><img border="0" src="'+curl+qs+'" /></a>') </script> <noscript> <a href="http://counter30.bravenet.com/index.php?id=348706&usernum=2493182698&cpv=1" target="_top"><img src="http://counter30.bravenet.com/counter.php?id=348706&usernum=2493182698" alt="Bravenet.com" border="0" /></a> </noscript>  </div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>